StudyLark SAT Writing – Answer Key

Punctuation

Ex.1

1. Use a comma. The comma, along with the one after "Cross", sets off "which solicited
donations in the wake of Hurricane Floyd in 1999" as a parenthetical (specifically, a
nonessential relative clause).
2. Use a dash. The dash, along with the earlier one, sets off "though still unexplained" as a
parenthetical.
3. No punctuation needed. The structure before the dash is complete, and everything after
the dash is part of its own different structure. The phrase "who are retired or deceased" is
a relative clause modifying figures.
4. Use a dash. A single dash here acts like a colon. The full sentence before the dash sets up
a thought that gets completed by the full sentence after the dash.
5. Use a comma. The comma, along with the one after "operator", sets off "in this case a
mine operator" as a parenthetical.
6. Use a dash. The dash, along with the later one, sets off "referred to variously as an
internet viewer, interface, or browser" as a parenthetical.

Ex.2

1. C
2. C
3. B
4. D
5. B

Ex.3

1. B
2. B
3. B
4. A
5. C

Parallelism – Lists

1. C
2. B
3. B
4. C
5. C
6. A
Possessive Pronouns & Contractions

1. It’s
2. Their
3. Its
4. Who’s
5. They’re
6. It’s
7. There
8. Whose

Parallelism – Comparisons

Ex.1

1. testimony
2. forts
3. output (the daily output of crude oil)
4. patterns (the acoustic patterns)
5. (A) that for (meaning the public’s support for)
6. (B) those in (meaning plot lines in)
7. (C) Nothing additional is needed. (the comparison is products vs. foods)
8. (B) those of (meaning the voices of)
9. (C) Nothing additional is needed. (the comparison is cola vs. acid rain)
10. (A) that displayed by (meaning the outlook on life displayed by)

Ex.2

1. France produces more cheese than does Italy.

2. Hybrid vehicles emit less carbon dioxide than do conventional cars.
3. People who speak several languages learn music more easily than do those who speak
just one language.
4. The wings of a falcon produce more power per downstroke than do those of a robin.
5. High school student athletes scored 15% higher on a fitness test than did students who
exercised on their own.
6. The stomachs of participants in the experimental group contained more diverse bacteria
than did those of participants in the control group.

Modifiers

1. (A) the posters celebrated…

2. (C) van Gogh was considered…
3. (B) the komuz is related to…
4. (A) the treaty provided…
5. (A) Luciana pointed out that…
6. (B) Ecuador is the same size as…
 7. (B) he continues to collect…
8. (C) the researchers were surprised to find…

Parallelism – Mixed

1. B
2. D
3. B
4. A
5. A

Yes, Yes, No, No

Ex.1

1. False
2. False
3. True
4. True
5. False
6. True

Ex.2

1. D
2. A

Apostrophes

1. C
2. C
3. B
4. B
5. B
6. D
7. A
8. B

Introductions, Transitions, and Conclusions

1. B. The ideas before the transition talk about problems caused by the atmosphere. Because
of those problems, astronomers want a telescope above the atmosphere so it won't
experience the same issues.
2. C. There is a contrast between resigning herself to obscurity and continuing to work
through writing. Instead of one, she chose the other.
 3. A. The second and third sentences give two reasons why housing prices increased so
much. Furthermore indicates the continuation of the list.
4. A. The reason he is the best known is his moveable type.
5. D. No transition is needed. If 3 of the choices present transition words (and not
conjunctions or other things related to the grammar of sentence structure) while 1 choice
gives you the option to go without a transition word, it's very likely that you should go
without.
6. D. There is a contrast between her life as a society woman and her life as a polar
explorer.

Connecting Clauses

1. Correct. There are 3 clauses, joined by and & when.

2. Incorrect. This is a comma splice. The first subject-verb pair is Moon … will slip. The
second is this … has been happening.
3. Incorrect. We have the conjunctive adverb however posing as a conjunction. It tries to
join the clauses Balch … served and she … was known.
4. Correct. There are 3 clauses, joined by and & that.
5. Correct. There are 3 clauses. Piece … becomes is joined to it … can lose by if. The
second clause is joined to the third, that … made by the relative pronoun that. The
word however is just hanging out, not attempting to connect clauses, so it’s cool.
6. Incorrect. We have the conjunctive adverb therefore posing as a conjunction. It tries to
join the clauses milling … strips and choosing … is.
7. Incorrect. We have the relative pronoun which, but that pronoun is neither the subject
of delivered (that’s he) nor the object of delivered (that’s the speech). Thus, it’s wrong. A
good fix would be to insert the word in before which to create … an address in which he
delivered … In that case, which would be the object of the preposition in.
8. Correct. There are a whopping 5 clauses, joined by and, that, after & that.
9. Correct. There are 3 clauses. The first two are joined by the semicolon. The third is
attached with while.
10. Incorrect. There are 2 clauses but 2 conjunctions as well—one too many. You could fix
the sentence by removing the as at the beginning or the and after cities.

Organization

Ex.1

1. C
2. B

Ex.2

1. A
2. A

Sentence Structure
Ex.1

1. D
2. A
3. C
4. B
5. B

Ex.2

1. B
2. D
3. B
4. D
5. C

Finding Subjects

1. The challenges
2. Margo
3. The wines
4. The bass and the piano
5. A move
6. Hexagons, triangles and squares.
7. The rain
8. The languages
9. One main area
10. Oliver Barber

Verb Form

1. B
2. A
3. B
4. C
5. A
6. A

Word Choice

1. C
2. B
3. D
4. D
Commas in names and titles

1. Correct. The appositive Australia native precedes the noun Priya Cooper.

2. Correct. The appositive a Native American storyteller follows the noun Te Ata. The
comma after New York sets off the introductory element; it has nothing to do with the
appositive.
3. Incorrect. The appositive German mathematician precedes the noun Emmy Noether, so
there should not be any comma.
4. Incorrect. The appositive A leading expert in the field of occupational health is an
introductory element, so it needs a comma after health.
5. Correct. The appositive fellow arranger precedes the noun Scott Snyder, so there is no
need for any appositive-related comma. The comma after Snyder sets off the introductory
prepositional phrase.
6. Incorrect. The appositive the founder of the Bauhaus Movement follows the noun Walter
Gropius, so it should be set off with commas on both ends. We’re missing the second
comma.
7. Correct. There are all kinds of fun here. Two appositives, chemist and materials
scientist, precede their nouns (Anthony Mendoza and Pedro Mendoza, respectively) and
thus don’t require commas. The entire phrase materials scientist Pedro Mendoza is a big
appositive (with a little appositive in it) that follows the noun it modifies, son, so we need
commas around that entire phrase. The comma after year sets off the introductory
element.
8. Incorrect. The appositive professional surfer precedes the noun Kelly Slater, so there
should not be any comma there. The comma after 2015 sets off the introductory
prepositional phrase.

Specific Tasks

1. C
2. B
3. A
4. C

Figures & Tables

1. C. Look at each river and compare its values before and after dam removal. Be sure to
notice the different axis scales for each graph. For each river, the range is much larger
after dam removal. For example, the Juniata River goes from 23 before removal to 114
after. That’s definitely not the same or below, so B and D are wrong, and it’s much more
than just double, so A is wrong as well.
2. B. Just read this value right off the graph. We need the Chemung River (the middle bar)
and we need before dam removal (the top graph). That’s about 14 m3/s.